Demonstrants in Prague, 1989

Thirty Years on from the Velvet Revolution: Minorities and Changes

Testimonies of exceptional people

We are bringing closer to your attention personal testimonies of six exceptional people who are publicly active in the Czech Republic: A woman from a Romani family (Jana Horváthová), a Jewish man from Slovakia (Fedor Gál), a female representative of the queer community (Adéla Horáková), a Syrian Arab woman of Czech origin (Samira Sibai), a homeless man living with a disability (Slavko Ševčík), and a man who is a vicar (Vladimír Volráb). All of these six people have had to define their attitudes, identities and values vis-à-vis the majority society after 1989.  Let us explore how they have managed.
 

By Barbora Latečková (Text), Jana Plavec (photos and videos)

70th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

The Green Political Foundation

The Heinrich Böll Foundation is part of the Green political movement that has developed worldwide as a response to the traditional politics of socialism, liberalism, and conservatism. Our main tenets are ecology and sustainability, democracy and human rights, self-determination and justice. We are a Green Think Tank and an International Policy Network.  


The Prague office of the Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung is a regional office, responsible for activities in the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary.

Conference: Current Populism in Europe

Current Populism in Europe: What’s Next?

The global Energiewende

Energy Transition
Dossier: Focus on Hungary

Latest Publications

Governing Ecologically

In voter surveys, the German Greens regularly come out as the party deemed to have by far the greatest competency in this area and in energy policy as well. This study by Arne Jungjohann tries to answer if this image is justified, as it looks at the subnational level of the federal states.

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Political integration of Hungarian students, 2019

After a four-year absence, the Active Youth (Aktív Fiatalok) Research Group has returned with a new survey about the political attitudes of higher education students in Hungary. The significance of this year’s findings relies on the fact that the political views of the majority of students sampled in this most recent survey – including some born as recently as 2000 – were formed during consecutive terms of prime minister Viktor Orbán and his government, considered by many political scientists and commentators to be a hybrid regime.

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Further publications

Democracy

Velvet Revolution, November 1989, Prague

Thirty Years on from the Velvet Revolution: Minorities and Changes

We are bringing closer to your attention personal testimonies of six exceptional people who are publicly active in the Czech Republic: A woman from a Romani family (Jana Horváthová), a Jewish man from Slovakia (Fedor Gál), a female representative of the queer community (Adéla Horáková), a Syrian Arab woman of Czech origin (Samira Sibai), a homeless man living with a disability (Slavko Ševčík), and a man who is a vicar (Vladimír Volráb). All of these six people have had to define their attitudes, identities and values vis-à-vis the majority society after 1989.  Let us explore how have they managed.

By Barbora Latečková
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Energy & Climate

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Foreign Affairs and Security

Protest proti nastupující normalizaci v srpnu 1969 (Praha)

Women and Revolution: The Protests in 1969 After Entering the Period of "Normalization" in Czechoslovakia

The Prague Spring ended with the Soviet Invasion in August 1968, when many had lost their faith that the regime can change, and the political representation has any degree of independency to Moscow. During the first day of occupation, 58 civilians had died as a result of shooting, explosions, or various accidental deaths. Many citizens who were abroad at that time chose to not come back. Yet there was a resistance to the events.

Ticking off the Czech Republic’s UN Commitment as Completed: Reflecting on the First Czech National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security

In January 2017, the Czech Republic introduced its first National Action Plan on UNSCR 1325 on women, peace and security (NAP 1325), adopting it as the 64th country in the world, as the 18th EU Member State and as the first country in Central Europe to do so. Notwithstanding its status as a country unaffected by direct conflict, the Czech Republic is obliged to pursue a gender, peace and security (GPS) agenda through its foreign policy, just as other EU member state signatories to UNSCR 1325 are expected to do so.

By Blanka Šimůnková and Míla O'Sullivan
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Dossier

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The 1956 Hungarian uprising - present day perspectives

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Dossier